Best Actor

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ wins TIFF audience award on way to Oscars

“The Silver Linings Playbook” solidified its status as an Oscar frontrunner by winning the people’s choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

After a rousing reception last Saturday, this new comedy drama from David O. Russell had people buzzing about its awards hopes.Bradley Cooper plays a recovering mental patient who meets a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) who changes his life. Two-time Oscar champ Robert De Niro who plays his doting dad, is said to do his best work in years, while Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver is his mother.

Two years ago, Russell relaunched his once-promising career with “The Fighter,” which netted him his first Oscar nod and won the supporting prizes for both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. That film’s star, Mark Wahlberg, a long-time Russell fan, was to star in his adaptation of Matthew Quick’s novel but took a pass, freeing up the role for Cooper.

“The Hangover” star proves he has the acting chops to handle this complicated character and is a strong contender in the Best Actor race. Lawrence, a 2009 Best Actress nominee (“Winter’s Bone”), also headlined the box office juggernaut “The Hunger Games” this year, proving she has commercial as well as critical appeal.

In a measure of the strength of support for “Playbook,” it edged out “Argo” as the people’s choice. That film from director/star Ben Affleck has a strong Canadian connection as it details the heroic efforts of Canadian diplomats, working with the CIA, to extract six American diplomats from Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.

Four of the 34 past winners of the TIFF audience award have gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars: “Chariots of Fire” (1981); “American Beauty” (1999); “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) and “The King’s Speech” (2010). Like that last double champ, “Silver Linings” is from the renowned Oscar campaigners at the Weinstein Company.

Wow so this movie is actually to be taken seriously then? Didn’t think it was the “Oscar type” but I guess since David O’Russel is coming out of his success and Oscar acclaim from The Fighter, it’s a legit contendor.